My Company - The level of engagement employees feel with their job and organisation
My Company is what we call an ‘output’ factor, it focuses on people’s ‘love’ and ‘pride’ in working for your organisation.
Now unfortunately you can’t directly make people feel these emotions, but when all of the other seven factors are doing well, people will be far more likely to experience that love and pride ultimately improving the My Company factor as a result.
To spread some Christmas cheer, the firm held an online Christmas party which involved a wine tasting for employees and their partners. All employees also received a hamper, a John Lewis voucher and a thank you note in appreciation of their hard work in 2020.
To boost morale, get people together and help support each other and share experiences, employees set up a range of fitness, cooking and cake-making clubs. People can drop in to Weekly Cake Tuesday on Teams, an open forum for staff to share news.
Employees volunteered their time to help out in the kitchen at Winchester Churches Nightshelter on a regular basis last year. At Christmas, Clevertouch employees also raised £250 to provide the residents of two moving-on homes with everything they needed for a festive feast.
When Steve Hughes started as chief executive in April 2020 there was no option to meet people face to face so he did it virtually through weekly Zoom coffee breaks, attending team meetings and webinars. By the end of December, he had also Zoomed with people from all 69 branches.
The Society's bonus scheme is based on its performance across measures including member service, people and community engagement and risk management. The scheme recognises that all employees contribute to and should share in the Society's success and they all receive the same percentage of their salary, 10% last year.
A Society dog show which got hundreds of entries and a Whodunnit competition were among the many innovative events that kept employees' spirits high last year. Staff also took part in fancy dress team meetings, quizzes, photo and baking competitions, virtual breakfasts and a book group.
Many of the managers have risen through the ranks to achieve senior positions, meaning their knowledge and understanding of their departments is unrivalled. That makes them well-equipped to implement the most effective incentives, performance strategies and wellbeing activities for their teams.
This year, Croner has been awarded Platinum Trusted Service status by Feefo, an independent market research organisation, which recognises businesses that go above and beyond to provide a consistently excellent service and dedicate themselves to exceeding customer expectations for at least three years in a row.
A Next Leaders programme supports employee development by teaching the specific skills needed for managerial roles. It provides tailored mentoring to educate and prepare individuals for a particular position. Line managers and departmental managers are coached on different areas such as client satisfaction, team building and teamwork.
Managers have been supported throughout the pandemic with weekly teams meetings and by pairing up with colleagues for peer mentoring and support. In offices where support bubbles have been set up managers know they have colleagues to work alongside and to call upon for help and advice.
Monthly “Outstanding Awards” recognise staff going above and beyond. Employees can be nominated by their peers or by managers for demonstrating outstanding work in line with the charity's values. The winner receives a gift voucher and are celebrated in the staff monthly newsletter along with all nominees.
Staff placed on furlough have received regular “check-ins” from their line managers to keep them in touch with what's going on, give them updates on organisational changes and support their wellbeing. Staff also have access to an Employee Advice Programme which includes a 24/7 support line and online resources.
Curtins promotes collaboration, encouraging virtual teams and engagement in central initiatives driven by staff working groups or forums, using social and digital platforms to create dynamic learning practices and knowledge transfer. Reverse mentoring is a pioneering initiative where junior staff partner with senior management.
The Strive Towards Excellence Programme (STEP Ahead) provides personal and behavioural development opportunities through collaborative learning in line with evolving managerial pathways. The programme is founded on the values, stories and people-focused culture of Curtins and how this is demonstrated through leadership.
A survey helped managers to understand where the teams were struggling during lockdown and how they felt they could get support. It also helped the business to develop a picture of what people were doing to promote good mental health, so that it could be shared and celebrated.
Staff can nominate colleagues who have been particularly helpful with a project or gone out of their way to provide a service for a Thank you Award with the recipient receiving a £25 voucher that can be redeemed against a wide range of retailers and leisure activities.
The Knowing Diabetes programme ensures staff continue to learn more about diabetes with a range of external speakers giving a talk every two months. New learning opportunities have included half-hour Five Things I Learnt About sessions and staff-led French and German speaking circles which ran over the summer.
The charity created virtual spaces for staff to talk about how they were doing, learn about wellbeing and keep in touch. It also held a Wellbeing Week and a virtual “at the coffee machine sessions” for people to “drop in” and talk about whatever they wanted.
The leadership team's calm, positive and transparent handling of the challenges created by the pandemic instilled camaraderie among staff and inspired peer to peer support. Staff were encouraged to maintain contact with the leadership team and each other and to get involved in social events including weekly coffee catch-ups.
DRS hosts regular events including team lunches and sent employees thank you hampers in recognition of their hard work. Regular thanks and recognition is given in weekly 1-2-1s, quarterly reviews and annual appraisals. Perks include free massages, a discount app and corporate gym memberships.
DRS funds additional qualification and training which has recently included German lessons to help an employee with negotiations in Germany and a diploma in resourcing and talent planning for another member of the team. Soft skill courses also contribute to personal and professional development.
The management team has weekly meetings to discuss all operational aspects of the business including the impact of Covid. In April, the company appointed an education and training lead who works across the whole organisation assessing and addressing development needs.
The business likes to send physical things through the post to remind people that it appreciates them. This includes small birthday presents, quarterly deliveries of a director-chosen gift – a bottle of wine, chocolate, beauty products, dependant on individual preferences. Several sets of hand-packed care boxes also went out.
Development was ongoing for all staff during the pandemic and was, in fact, strengthened to levels higher than previous years. This included training with the company's tooling partners; LinkedIn Learning; in-house courses; lunch-and-learn sessions; and staff obtaining formal qualifications such as Six Sigma and Prince 2 certification.
The Society held its annual awards night in May via Zoom and sent everyone a box of treats to enjoy during the evening and even roped in the partners of Employee of the Year and Manager of the Year to surprise them with champagne and flowers.
The Society launched a wellbeing campaign, challenging staff to doing 30 minutes of exercise for 30 days, creating some healthy competition and it also provided weekly open Tea and Talk sessions with an independent counsellor. Support is also available from 14 mental health first aiders.
Employees responded to the local NHS Heroes campaign by putting together care packages for their local hospital and each branch supported one care home locally sending a box of goodies to entertain and treat the residents. Employees have also been supporting the vulnerable in the community.
A RISE values system – do the Right thing; make a positive Impact; keep it Simple; and always Evolve – shapes the EKM culture and attract the best new talent, recruited mainly using job boards, LinkedIn, and by scouting Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) graduate fairs.
Employees can recognise their colleagues in a “Wheel of Heroes” initiative, to tell them how appreciated it was when they helped out. Names go into a draw and the winner gets to spin the Wheel of Heroes for prizes of anything from £1 toilet roll to £100 or a day's holiday.
EKM has donated to various charities over the past year, including Save the Children. The company also works closely with local schools and CEO Antony has given speeches by video link to classes on building your own business.
